Sofa-bedstead



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JNO. IRWIN, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

SOFA-BEDS'I'EAD.

Specicaton of Letters Patent No. 20,206, dated May 11, 1858.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN IRWIN, of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Sofa-Bedsteads; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

Sofa-bedsteads of ordinary construction are liable to have the. back and also the seat wrested from the main frame not only by constant wear, but. by catching the bedclothes or other articles in the flexible joints when opening or closing the bed. The wood of which these sofa-bedsteads are made is usually very hard and liable to split, and when the screws or hinges are once torn from their attachment to the wood, it is very diflicult to repair the sofa.

My invention or improvement consists in constructing sofa bedsteads with peculiar threefold hinges, having two of the straps bent at right angles so as to embrace both the edge and side of the back and of the seat, thus giving better support to the wood, and preventing the liability of splitting it, or of tearing the screws from their hold, or of breaking the hinge.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l, is a front View of my improved sofa bedstead. Fig. 2, is a transverse section through one of the hinges. Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, are views of the hinges separate from the sofa.

The hinge has three branches, A, B, C, as seen in Figs. 3 and t. The main portion A is fastened to the body of the sofa, as seen at A, Fig. 2. The branch B supports the back D, of the sofa, and allows the back to rise and fall, as seen in red lines, Fig. 2. When the hack is down and used as a bed,

the angle in the branch B of the hinge prevents the possibility of wresting the back from the hinge by any weight or force insuificient to break the hinge. In like manner the branch C of the hinge, embraces both the edge and the under side of the seat E, and allows the latter to rise or fall, as shown in red lines, Fig. 2. The angle of the branch C is also in position to support a great weight upon the seatof the sofa without tending to wrest the hinge from its point of fastening to the seat E. By this arrangement two hinges serve instead of four of ordinary construction.

When the back of the sofa is let down to form the bed, the two branches, B and C, of the hinge, serve as hooks to support the back and seat respectively, without straining the screws which fasten the hinge; also the weight of the part B, or that of a person resting upon it, is counterbalanced by the weight of C, or that of a person resting upon it, so that the main portion A of the hinge is less likely to have its screws wrested from their place by any oblique action of the Weight.

I am aware that the branches of gate hinges have been bent, and that a threefold hinge is not in itself new. But my hinge differs from all other known hinges, and 1n its application to sofa bedsteads, forms, as I believe both an important and a patentable improvement.

I claim- The above described hinge in combination with the back and seat of sofa-bedsteads for the purposes substantially set forth.

JOHN IRWIN.

Witnesses B. R. MAYER, AND. C. GREER. 

